Google Nearline Offers Cheap Cloud Storage For Businesses

Google has launched a cloud storage service designed to help companies that are struggling with the ever increasing volumes of data.

Google Cloud Storage Nearline has been launched as a easy to use, low-cost, fast-response storage service with quick data backup, retrieval and access.

Cold Storage

Google Cloud Storage Nearline is in many ways going head to head with a similar service from Amazon. In August 2012, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched Amazon Glacier, a low cost storage solution for data archiving and backup.

Google Nearline likewise is geared towards businesses seeking a cloud storage and archiving service.

Often older data that is not used very often just needs to be stored for “just in case” purposes. This type of storage is often referred as “offline cold storage,” and it typically allows companies to store the data for less money than traditional (and more expensive) online storage. The trade-off with “cold storage is that it can take longer to access than offline storage.

But Google Nearline is being touted as a cheap online cloud storage option that also allows for rapid access. Nearline is designed to provide “unmatched price and performance for long-term storage.”

It offers fast performance, in that the customer gets all the benefits of cold storage while making the data immediately available (3 second response time). It is also low cost, and is priced extremely low at $0.01 per GB.

Google also promises a secure service, as there are redundant storage at multiple physical locations which should protect the data. “OAuth and granular access controls form strong, configurable security.”

And Google Nearline is fully integrated with other Google Cloud Storage services. It is also straight forward to use, as the data manipulation behaviour remains the same across Google Cloud Storage services.

Third Party Ecosystems

Customers however should noted that Google Cloud Storage Nearline is currently only in beta, and is subject to changes going forward.

Veritas/Symantec, NetApp, Iron Mountain, and Geminare can, or will, work with Google Nearline.

“Today, we’re excited to introduce Google Cloud Storage Nearline, a simple, low-cost, fast-response storage service with quick data backup, retrieval and access,” blogged Google Product Manager Avtandil Garakanidze. “Capacity pricing is extremely low at 1c per GB for data at rest.”

“With Google Cloud Storage Nearline, you can now benefit from a very low-cost, highly-durable storage that can be used to store limitless amounts of data and have access to that data at any time,” blogged Garakanidze. “Our primary focus is to help you bring new use cases to life, and this is why we’ve worked with some of the leading backup and storage providers and are focused on growing this ecosystem.”

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